Skopje

May 2004 was the first time I visited Skopje. I remember one dark gay bar 'Why not' in the cellar of an old flat, probably a left-over from the time that Tito was in power of Yugoslavia. After that I visited Macedonia a few times, the last time spring last year.

This weekend I was in Skopje again, and until my pleasant surprise several new gay bars had opened. Van Gogh café only is a gay/lesbian bar on Sunday evenings. It had big doors which were all open, and many people were talking and drinking on the street. I first couldn't believe that such a progress had been made, so I asked Ana whether it maybe was the case that nobody really knew that Sunday evening was the 'gay evening'. She answered, "Well if I tell my mum something in the morning before I go to work, my colleagues will probably know what I told her before I arrive at work. Everybody knows what evening it is here tonight."